One of the common questions about learning programming is: "What are some web development books worth learning?" The books listed below are not only suitable for getting started with front-end development, but are all available for free.
This section has a lot of content because this website mainly focuses on CSS!
Adam Schwartz covers six CSS concepts in this book, including box modeling, layout, tables, colors, typography, and transitions. Even some experienced CSS developers may be confused by some of these concepts, and Adam has tried his best to explain each concept.
In addition to being a beginner guide to complex CSS concepts, I also like that every CSS attribute mentioned in the book is clickable, so you can click them at any time to see how each attribute is applied. There are many illustrative examples and suggestions for further reading in the book, if you wish to learn more about each chapter.
I found the chapter on color very interesting not only because it dives into best practices for accessible use of color, but because of its super practicality, such as when Adam dives into brands that use CSS to support organizations.
Direct link#### Jeremy Keith "Resilient Web Design"
Excerpt from the introduction:
You can't find any code here to help you build a better website. But you will find ideas and methods. Ideas last more than code. I'm trying to combine the most enduring ideas in the history of web design to form a way to build a future website.
One thing Jeremy does very well is describing soft skills such as planning, overviewing, and how to write code. So instead of adding code snippets to the book, you'll find details about code strategies, such as progressive enhancement, the challenges of deciding which tools to use, and writing future-oriented code.
For those who haven't heard Jeremy telling things (such as what he did in the Web History series), an audio file can be downloaded.
Direct link#### Simon Collison by Simon Collison, "A Beginner of CSS Web Development: From Newbie to Professionals"
The book may have been written in 2006, but Simon's explanation of web standards and accessibility is timeless and keeping pace with the times. He provides an understanding of interoperability and a way to build web applications, including the often overlooked early planning phases.
This book is divided into two parts, further divided into 16 chapters. The first section covers CSS topics such as handling text, links, lists, backgrounds, images, forms, and forms. It also does not shy away from details.
The second part is all about layout, illuminating usability and layout operations, and a convenient case study. The way chapters are arranged makes one chapter flow naturally into the next chapter. Each chapter also contains a summary section focusing on all the important concepts covered in this chapter.
In fact, this book provides novice developers with solid CSS background knowledge and helps them learn more advanced concepts step by step. It will make your CSS learning journey easier.
Direct link### HTML & CSS related books
CSS and HTML are often taught together, which is especially useful when you write the first line of code and want to know how the two languages interact.
Shay calls the book "a simple and comprehensive guide dedicated to helping beginners learn HTML and CSS." He does this by focusing on common elements of front-end design and development. Some of the courses covered include box models, positioning, typography, backgrounds and gradients, lists, media, forms and forms. In Chapter 1, “Build Your First Web Page,” Shay analyzes the content of a typical website, including elements, properties and setting up HTML document structure, code validation, selectors, and CSS reset. I found this book very instructive because it goes beyond the surface and solves many key concepts with code examples that you can follow and learn.
A notable feature of this book is that Shay built a complete project from scratch in 12 courses, and at the end of each course he provided a summary and link to the current status of the site (so if you follow the learning, you can compare with your site) as well as source code for each stage.
If you are a learner who learns through practice, you will find these materials very useful and by the time you complete your study, you will have developed a multi-page functional website.
Advanced sequels to the course are also available for free through the same link.
Direct link#### Michael Knapp "HTML & CSS: 7 Days of Mastering the Basics"
You may not be able to learn all about HTML and CSS in seven days, but that's why Michael Knapp wrote in 2017 to focus on the basics. Michael dives into a brief history lesson before starting to learn the structure, logic, and demonstration of HTML and CSS. You will get all the knowledge so quickly that you should be confident in building a basic web page and learn some extra knowledge along the way, as this book involves SEO and analysis.
This book contains simple programs that you can run on your computer as needed.
The e-book version is available for free on Apple Books, but if you have a Kindle subscription, you can also use the Kindle version.
Apple Books Kindle #### Chris Coyier "The Best CSS Skills Volume 1"
Did you know that CSS-Tricks also has a book about CSS? It's silly to get it out of this list, as you'll get a collection of classic CSS tips explained by Chris Coyier himself. In fact, Chris has carefully selected all the examples covered in this book from the numerous tips he has received since he operated the website for many years.
Each technique solves a specific pain point. For example, the first "Fixed Scroll to Bottom" trick demonstrates how to use the overflow-anchor CSS property to create the same chat interface as a tool like Slack, where the screen is pinned to the bottom, and it feels like the page is scrolling for you because new items are added.
Direct link ### process related books
Code is as important as how we write code and work with others to complete projects. The following books are a great starting point for planning and project management, communication and working with others.
In this book, Ellen talks about what we all have to deal with: working with others. It's not easy – this book is divided into four parts and explores in-depth things we can work well with others:
As a content strategist, Ellen has the right experience to help anyone participate in a collaborative project or get the most out of collaboration.
Direct link#### Webflow by "Modern Web Design Process"
This free e-book introduces a seven-step design process designed to help define the process of today’s web design.
This includes:
Any reader who starts a new design project or is working on a design project will find valuable insights in this book. Most notably, the way this book is written almost feels like someone is guiding you through the entire project from concept to completion.
Direct link#### Mark Boulton's "Web Design"
Many organizations seem to handle designs in different ways. But author Mark Boulton documented a thorough design process in Web Design that removes many challenges and covers everything you need to know.
What’s unique about this book is that it really focuses on work. Of course, this book contains a lot of valuable information about best practices in design, such as typography, colors, and layouts, but what you really learn from this book will be how this content fits into the design process. It teaches you how to do research, the techniques we have to implement ideas, and ultimately how to work with others and clients – this is perfect material for design directors, project managers, freelancers, or anyone involved in the project delivery process.
Direct link #### Tower by "Learning Version Control with Git"
In this book, the team behind the popular Git client Tower introduces learners to the core of the version control system using Git. Developers working on teams will find this especially useful because it helps to effectively collaborate with team members who build different functions of the project, even if you're thousands of miles apart. That said, it's still great for anyone who might be shy about the command line and want to build confidence there.
Since this book is written by the manufacturer of applications that interact with Git, you will also gain a lot of experience using Tower as a GUI in addition to working directly on the command line.
So whether it's commit, branch, merge, pull request, fork work, or dealing with merge conflicts, you'll get a lot from this book.
Direct link### JavaScript related books
Learning JavaScript always seems to be very popular. In fact, Jason Rodriguez wrote about the JavaScript learning environment in 2018 and provided a nice list of free books. Since then, there hasn't been much new content, but here is my thoughts on the following books.
"Eloquent JavaScript" is indeed worthy of its name. Personally, I think this is one of the best written JavaScript books I have ever seen. Marjin's writing style is fascinating, especially how he introduces programming concepts and guides readers into it. In his own words, the book is just about “guiding computers and getting them to do what you want them to do.”
This book explores JavaScript in depth, divided into three parts and 21 chapters. You will read a lot about basic programming concepts such as values, types, operators and functions, as well as advanced concepts such as regular expressions, modules, DOM, and asynchronous programming. He begins each chapter with a philosophical introduction, preparing the readers for the upcoming content, and then digging straight into the subject.
In addition, there are three programs that can help you practice your newly acquired skills.
Direct link##### Nicholas C. Zakas "Understanding JavaScript Promise"
JavaScript Promise was introduced in 2015 as part of the ES6 specification to handle asynchronous functions in JavaScript. According to MDN:
Promise is an object that indicates the final completion or failure of an asynchronous operation.
In this 51-page book, Nicholas explains the concept of Promise in three chapters: basics, promise chaining and handling multiple promises. Although the book links we provide are free community versions, the full version (available on Amazon) has two chapters on asynchronous functions and unhandled rejection tracking. Nicholas simplifies the concept of Promise with several illustrations and examples. You will learn how to use then(), catch(), and finally() and learn how to link multiple promises together. Nicholas also introduces the allocation of rejection and settlement handlers. You may need to read this book to strengthen your understanding of the topic.
Nicholas is an experienced JavaScript book author who has written about JavaScript for more than 15 years. He put his extensive experience into this book (just like his work at CSS-Tricks).
Direct link##### Axel Rauschmayer's "Speaking JavaScript"
This book is divided into four chapters and covers more than 30 topics. Here is its breakdown:
Direct link #### John Resig and Bear Bibeault "JavaScript Ninja Cheats"
There is actually a newer version of the book, but the 2012 version is free. Either way, it's a great opportunity to learn John Resig; you know, that's the guy who created jQuery.
Technologies covered here include closures, functions, DOM, object-oriented using prototypes, and cross-browser policies. A nice plus is that there is a short review after each chapter, which is perfect as a reference after you read the book.
Direct link#### Addy Osmani's "Learning JavaScript Design Patterns"
The concept of design pattern refers to a reusable solution to common repetitive problems in application development. In this book, Addy Osmani covers implementations of common design patterns using ES6 and later as well as React-specific design patterns, which is very convenient when dealing with complex React applications where maintainability is the primary goal.
Some of the patterns covered include singleton, proxy, provider, prototype, and observer patterns. In some cases, Addy includes the pros and cons of using some of these patterns and how they affect the performance of your application.
Direct link#### Kyle Simpson "You Don't Know JS"
While the title may be a bit provocative, what Kyle here implies is that he writes the book assuming you don't have any JavaScript experience.
Kyle first introduces the basics of programming from the perspective of JavaScript. Then, in the subsequent chapters, he goes on to introduce more advanced concepts such as scope and closures, this keyword, object prototype, asynchronous, and performance.
There are a lot of excellent details and explanations here, and Kyle makes it very easy to understand by avoiding the use of super-technical terminology. There are many exercises that are designed to reinforce your learning. This book will surely give you a quick grasp of JavaScript. The second edition of the book is being developed and you can track it on GitHub.
Direct link#### Flavio Copes' "JavaScript Beginner's Manual"
Flavio wrote a very useful JavaScript reference for those who are just starting to learn. It's more of a quick reference guide than a textbook, so those who are just starting to learn might consider putting it on their desks rather than reading for a long time.
Direct link ##### Gans, Hodges and Wilson, JavaScript for Data Science
The author covers the core features of modern JavaScript, including callbacks, promises, inheritance, objects, and classes. They also covered tests using Mocha, React, and data visualization, all of which are great for anyone looking to improve the code and how it is written. This book doesn’t go into many concepts as in-depth as some other books, but it’s really great when it comes to data science.
This book uses Data-Forge; a JavaScript library for processing tabular data. There are many exercises to help readers keep up with the discussion topic. The final chapter also includes a comprehensive project that brings everything together.
Direct link#### Summary
I hope these books help you, whether you're just starting front-end web development, or have more than a decade of experience, or you're in between. I know how difficult it is to get into something new for the first time and the feeling of not knowing where to start looking. I also know that reaching the bottleneck and needing something to improve my feelings. No matter what stage you are in the learning process, there should always be something for you here.
And if you have other books that are available for free online, please share them in the comments! I believe we can list more.
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